


The Cookie Arrangement

by NamelesslyNightlock



Series: Going Down Swinging [53]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adorkable, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Attraction, Bribery, Cookies, Cute, Feels, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, Insecure Loki (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Feels, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23575738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelesslyNightlock/pseuds/NamelesslyNightlock
Summary: Loki is perfectly aware that Tony only talks to him for the cookies.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Series: Going Down Swinging [53]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1330490
Comments: 61
Kudos: 486





	The Cookie Arrangement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [STARSdidathing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/gifts).
  * Translation into 中文-普通话 國語 available: [曲奇协定](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541710) by [kummerspeck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kummerspeck/pseuds/kummerspeck)



> Stars always has the best ideas and I can't thank her enough ❤︎  
>   
> And, believe it or not, this series is officially now more than half way through xD ~~wow how have I been posting these for a full year already~~  
>   
>  **Prompt** — _“I’m sorry.”_

Okay, look.

Loki knew that Tony only talked to him for the cookies.

He wasn’t blind, he wasn’t optimistic, and he _certainly_ wasn’t an idiot– he knew exactly what was going on.

He just… didn’t really care.

You see, Loki worked in a small café on an out of the way street which served mediocre coffee and tea that Loki wouldn’t drink to save his life. But what kept the customers coming back, what kept the regulars trawling through the weather come rain or shine to pile into the café were the chocolate chip cookies that nowhere else ever seemed to be able to beat.

It was a well-kept secret – a fact that Loki mostly blamed upon the quality of the coffee – but those who knew about the cookies would never eat them from anywhere else. Never mind Subway or your grandmother’s best recipe– the cookies Loki sold were unbeatable.

Loki didn’t really care that the cookies weren’t getting the attention they deserved, though. He didn’t make them, he just stood at the counter, smiled, and tried not to bite the customers’ heads off. He was only there because his father had ordered both and he and Thor to find jobs while they were in college– because their father would help with the exorbitant fees, but only if they promised not to freeload entirely.

Thor had found a job coaching football on weekends, and Loki? Well, he decided to work for the café with the slowest lunch rush he could find.

One would think that a café would be the absolute last place Loki would want to work, since not only do you have to deal with _people_ , but you have to deal with them before they’ve had their fix of caffeine. But, that was balanced out by one simple bonus– and that’s the fact that every evening, the baked goods that had not been sold that day were given to the employees.

So that little place, with the heavenly cookies and the slowest morning coffee rush Loki had ever seen? That was the _perfect_ job opportunity, really. Not only did it get his father off his back and help bring him a little pocket money, it also meant that he got free cookies at the end of the day to use as bargaining chips.

It worked _wonders_ on Thor, and by the end of Loki’s first month, Thor was already turning up at Loki’s apartment with dinner twice a week _and_ was willing to do all of the dishes.

And that, really, was how it all started.

Thor, you see, had never really been any good at keeping his mouth shut, and he couldn’t resist bragging to his friends that he had a free supply of the _best_ cookies in the city. And that was when Tony started showing up.

He always came around the end of the day, right when Loki’s evening shift was about to end– and only when Loki was serving. He would hang around and talk while Loki closed up shop, chatting and leaning against the counter with a bright grin that he _knew_ was difficult to resist.

Loki had always found Tony attractive, on the few times that he had seen him hanging around Thor, but he knew that Tony had never looked at him twice. At least, not until the cookies.

So yeah, of course Loki knew. And oh, at first it _had_ stung, but to be honest it was a far better reason than what most had for talking to Loki. He had long since learned to get over the sting of people not liking him for him– and being able to talk to Tony at all was more than he had originally thought he would get.

Tony wasn’t manipulating him, and Loki wasn’t fooled. The arrangement between them was simple, with rules that were understood by both parties.

A Cookie Arrangement, as it were.

Because hey, Loki wasn’t going to eat the cookies himself, and he didn’t mind giving them to Tony instead of Thor. Not when Tony smiled at him like _that_ , when he always hung around for a conversation first which would always be more engaging than any of the other drivel Loki had to put up with day in and day out.

It gave him something to look forward to, something more than just the money and the bargaining chips. He spent his hours at work checking the clock not to see how long he had left on his shift, but how long until Tony would arrive. He began to linger as he closed the shop, just so that he could spend more time with Tony– just talking, and sometimes perhaps sharing a few of the cookies.

Once, Tony had grinned at Loki with a smudge of chocolate at the corner of his mouth, and Loki caught himself leaning forward with the near unchecked desire to kiss the chocolate away. He tore his gaze to the side before Tony noticed, and he told himself that it was just because Tony was a good looking bloke—

Except then, it wasn’t just _once_ at all. It was every time Tony ate a cookie, then every time Loki even _saw_ him. He couldn’t quite stop his eyes from lingering on Tony’s mouth at every smile, every laugh– and every time Tony’s tongue darted out to catch the crumbs on his lips, Loki’s breath would catch.

Ah, crap.

Loki knew he wanted more with Tony, but his feelings didn’t matter. The thing between them was a Cookie Arrangement, nothing less– and nothing more.

Tony only flirted with him for the cookies, and that was _fine_ – because that was how Loki was able to spend time with him, and he loved every moment of it. It was enough.

Well, it _was_ – at least until one evening when Tony walked into the café with a bright smile and gleam in his eye, and Loki didn’t have any cookies left. He’d only just sold the last one to a woman in a rush, and there wouldn’t be any more until the ovens were fired back up in the morning.

Loki was ashamed to admit he might have considered breaking every rule in the book and putting it aside for Tony – even if he’d had to buy it himself – but the day had been so busy that he hadn’t even realised it was the last one, let alone thought to do such a thing.

Now, he was caught staring as Tony approached with panic rising up his throat– because he didn’t want to miss out on his time with Tony, but if there were no cookies then… there was no reason for Tony to be there.

And the moment Tony’s gaze landed on the empty display and his smile fell, Loki knew that he would lose the time with Tony he had been looking forward to all day. He expected Tony to smile and go, maybe, because he _had_ to know that Loki understood his pretence. But, instead, when those brown eyes flashed up to meet Loki’s they were as wide as a deer’s that had been caught in bright headlights.

Tony looked like he was panicking almost as much as Loki was, like he had no idea what he was supposed to do next.

It was strange, to think that without the comfortable excuse of the cookies between them, neither had anything to say.

Maybe that was why Loki did it– he didn’t really have any other excuse after all. Normally he was so well spoken but with his heart in his throat and Tony looking at him like _that_ , the words just exploded out of him unbidden.

“I’m sorry I ran out of cookies,” he blurted. “But maybe… I could take you to dinner instead?”

The moment he’d said it Loki felt his cheeks blush a bright red, and he stared down at the counter. He heard Tony move, and he expected he’d hear the bell over the door next as Tony left to never come back– surely Loki had ruined his chance with a stupid word, when he could have just promised Tony that there would be more cookies tomorrow?

But then he felt a touch that didn’t make sense, and he stared at the hand that had come to rest on top his own against the counter before glancing up to meet Tony’s soft gaze.

“Don’t you think I should be the one taking _you_ to dinner?” Tony asked, his grin bright despite the tenderness in his expression. “I mean, after all those free cookies you’ve given me?”

Loki stared, not quite believing even as his heart began to race with delight. “You actually _want_ to go out with me?” he whispered.

“You don’t really think I kept coming here for the cookies, do you?” Tony asked. “I mean, they’re good, but they’re not good enough to make up for that stuff you have the gall to sell as coffee.”

Loki’s eyes widened then. “I thought it was just the cookies,” he said, still with a little shyness in his tone but picking up the brightness in Tony’s as easily as always. “I thought…”

“Sure it started that way,” Tony admitted, his fingers tightening around Loki’s. “But you’re far sweeter than even the best cookie.”

Loki’s grin widened then, and it was Tony’s turn to blush.

“Okay, that came out badly—”

“Tony,” Loki said, feeling a little lightheaded, as if he were short on breath– and his grin was stretched so wide his cheeks were beginning to ache. “I would love to go to dinner with you. Just… give me twenty minutes to close the shop.”

“Always, Lokes,” Tony replied, embarrassment melting away as the last vestiges of his blush only seemed to make his smile all the brighter.

From there, everything progressed as always, and yet it was completely different. Tony leaned against the counter and struck up a conversation while Loki finished up, but their smiles as they caught each other’s gaze were soft and open– because there was more between them now than just a Cookie Arrangement, and knowing that Tony was there because he wanted to spend time with _him?_

That made Loki happier than any number of free cookies ever could.


End file.
